[Written: April 2006]
How I Got Involved in Letterpress
Printing: I have had an interest in books for many years and went to night school to learn about bookbinding. I then obtained an Adana
8x5 to use for blocking labels etc, but never used it for the intended purpose, so it sat collecting dust, until one day I came across
some letterpress type being sold locally and ended up with 20 cases and another Adana, from then on my passion for letterpress printing
has grown. This all started in my small library/bindary and has grown over the years, in the end I had to eventually build a
print shop onto the side of the house, which houses nearly all my equipment.
Presses & Equipment: Cropper Charlton
Minerva Treadle press 12½" x 8½", Cropper Peerless #1 Treadle press (undergoing restoration), Cropper Peerless Treadle press 11" x
7", Model No1 handpress, Adana eight five handpress, Adana high speed 2 hand press, Farley Proofing press, Cook & Sons 22" hand
guilotine, Aproximatly 250 cases of type, Ludlow Typecaster, and a damaged Model treadle press, I can't bear to scrap it, so it is
available to anyone for spares.
Work History: I currently work for Her Majesty's Prison Service as Prison Officer Instructor,
teaching Information Technology, in regards to printing, I have been producing on a small scale, Buisness cards, wedding invitations,
Christmas card, small brochures, menus etc. Looking in the future to do some printing of short stories & poetry, along with
the, binding & publishing.
Education: Qualified as a CISCO instructor in IT Essentials computer engineering, CCNA Networking
& PNIE data cabling
Other Interests/Hobbies: Restoring old houses, We are currently restoring an old farmhouse in rural France,
this our first outside of the UK, hard work but rewarding.
Group Memberships, if any: Historian for the British Printing Society
Email
Address: thetudorblackpress@blueyonder.co.uk
Website: www.tudorblackpress.co.uk
Birth Date or Birth Year: 1959
